Looking for USENET client recommendations for Windows

[Bice Eichler]

Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

So I guess I have to find new client software. I've spent most of this
morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't like any
of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the closest to being
acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that I'd like to have.

What I'm looking for is newsgroup reader software that:
- runs in Windows
- works with Eternal-September's server
- can handle large unread message counts
- can offload unread messages to a single text file

That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a
separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself so I could
read it on other computers where I don't have access to USENET (OK, I
admit it, I read them at work).

A killfile would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker because I'm
currently using Hamster as a filter and it works pretty well.

If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.

-- Bob

[Bobbie Sellers]

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.
So I guess I have to find new client software. I've spent most of this
morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't like any
of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the closest to being
acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that I'd like to have.
- runs in Windows
- works with Eternal-September's server
- can handle large unread message counts
- can offload unread messages to a single text file
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a
separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself so I could
read it on other computers where I don't have access to USENET (OK, I
admit it, I read them at work).
A killfile would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker because I'm
currently using Hamster as a filter and it works pretty well.
If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.
-- Bob

Have you tried Thunderbird, BetterBird or Sea Monkey?
Thunderbird is my daily email and Usenet client. I have used
BetterBird and it is pretty good.

bliss

[Bice]

On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 11:09:24 -0800, Bobbie Sellers

Post by Bobbie Sellers

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.
So I guess I have to find new client software. I've spent most of this
morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't like any
of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the closest to being
acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that I'd like to have.

Have you tried Thunderbird, BetterBird or Sea Monkey?
Thunderbird is my daily email and Usenet client. I have used
BetterBird and it is pretty good.

I tried Thunderbird - I got the impression it was designed for email
and newsgroups were an afterthought. Took me forever to figure out
how to even see newsgroups in it, and I didn't like the interface
much.

Somehow I got Agent ver. 8 installed. I'm not sure why it worked when
it hadn't worked multiple times earlier. I'm worried because it's a
30 day trial version and I don't know where I'm going to get a
Registration Key when that 30 days runs out. Forte went out of
business long ago, didn't they?

This version doesn't have the "Expand all threads" option under the
View menu. I can't believe they got rid of that.

-- Bob

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.
So I guess I have to find new client software. I've spent most of this
morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't like any
of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the closest to being
acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that I'd like to have.
- runs in Windows
- works with Eternal-September's server
- can handle large unread message counts
- can offload unread messages to a single text file
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a
separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself so I could
read it on other computers where I don't have access to USENET (OK, I
admit it, I read them at work).
A killfile would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker because I'm
currently using Hamster as a filter and it works pretty well.
If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.
-- Bob

Thunderbird on Windows 11 Pro is what I use.

Lynn

[Cryptoengineer]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer.  I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent.  I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.
So I guess I have to find new client software.  I've spent most of this
morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't like any
of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the closest to being
acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that I'd like to have.
  - runs in Windows
  - works with Eternal-September's server
  - can handle large unread message counts
  - can offload unread messages to a single text file
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a
separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself so I could
read it on other computers where I don't have access to USENET (OK, I
admit it, I read them at work).
A killfile would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker because I'm
currently using Hamster as a filter and it works pretty well.
If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.
   -- Bob

Thunderbird on Windows 11 Pro is what I use.
Lynn

I'm also usng thunderbird. I am not impressed.

pt

[The Horny Goat]

On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:50:24 -0500, Cryptoengineer

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer.  I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent.  I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.
So I guess I have to find new client software.  I've spent most of this
morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't like any
of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the closest to being
acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that I'd like to have.
  - runs in Windows
  - works with Eternal-September's server
  - can handle large unread message counts
  - can offload unread messages to a single text file
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a
separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself so I could
read it on other computers where I don't have access to USENET (OK, I
admit it, I read them at work).
A killfile would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker because I'm
currently using Hamster as a filter and it works pretty well.
If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.
   -- Bob

Thunderbird on Windows 11 Pro is what I use.
Lynn

I'm also usng thunderbird. I am not impressed.
pt

I use Thunderbird for my e-mail (and have more than 15 years of
archives though I did have a major glitch about a year ago that
corrupted quite a bit of e-mail which I should have had backed up but
didn't)

I'm on the board of 4 non-profits (3 local 1 national) so that's
important to me. I gave Agent a try for e-mail (since I've been using
it for Usenet for a very long time) but didn't like it.

[Titus G]

snip

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Lynn McGuire
Thunderbird on Windows 11 Pro is what I use.

I'm also usng thunderbird. I am not impressed.

I have used Thunderbird (on Linux), for ever so I don't know what I am
missing or what is wrong with it and am curious regarding additional
features you would require to be impressed. Thank you.

[Cryptoengineer]

Post by Titus G
snip

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Lynn McGuire
Thunderbird on Windows 11 Pro is what I use.

I'm also usng thunderbird. I am not impressed.

I have used Thunderbird (on Linux), for ever so I don't know what I am
missing or what is wrong with it and am curious regarding additional
features you would require to be impressed. Thank you.

For the longest time I used the Google groups interface, which
sucked, but had very high availability. I also used xnews, but
that no longer seems to run.

A good deal of it is probably my unfamiliarity. I haven't really
figured ou the options for retaining and disposing of read messages,
which means that threads I'm caught up on simply vanish.

The other factor is the lack of a decent kill file. rn (where
I started back in the 80s, and its descendants allow you to
select messages and threads using regular expressions on all
headers and content, and then perform actions based on the
contents. This is very powerful, and much missed. For example,
you could eliminate posts crossposted to more then two groups
by selecting messages where the Newsgroups header line had
more than one comma.

pt

[William Hyde]

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Titus G
snip

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Lynn McGuire
Thunderbird on Windows 11 Pro is what I use.

I'm also usng thunderbird. I am not impressed.

I have used Thunderbird (on Linux), for ever so I don't know what I am
missing or what is wrong with it and am curious regarding additional
features you would require to be impressed. Thank you.

For the longest time I used the Google groups interface, which
sucked, but had very high availability. I also used xnews, but
that no longer seems to run.

I also used Google groups, too lazy to investigate anything else.

But when they shut that down it took me about twenty minutes to get the
seamonkey groups page going. Speaking as a cranky old guy who can get
very annoyed with software choices, I have to say that it was a painless
experience.

I have not really explored its possibilities, barring the kill file
which I use to make groups other than this one more readable.

Though a surprising number of trolls vanished with google, unable to
figure out how to get back to these groups.

William Hyde

[Kevrob]

Post by William Hyde

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Titus G
snip

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Lynn McGuire
Thunderbird on Windows 11 Pro is what I use.

I'm also usng thunderbird. I am not impressed.

I have used Thunderbird (on Linux), for ever so I don't know what I am
missing or what is wrong with it and am curious regarding additional
features you would require to be impressed. Thank you.

For the longest time I used the Google groups interface, which
sucked, but had very high availability. I also used xnews, but
that no longer seems to run.

I also used Google groups, too lazy to investigate anything else.
But when they shut that down it took me about twenty minutes to get the
seamonkey groups page going.  Speaking as a cranky old guy who can get
very annoyed with software choiceI was on GG to the bitter end, but switched to Thy s, I have to say that it was a painless
experience.
I have not really explored its possibilities, barring the kill file
which I use to make groups other than this one more readable.
Though a surprising number of trolls vanished with google, unable to
figure out how to get back to these groups.

I was with GG until the bitter end, but switched to E-S/Thunderbird
quite soon after. Google Groups, and Deja before it, had the feature
that I could access it from any computer that had an internet
connection and a browser. Later I could use my mobile phone.

I did briefly use Outlook's built-in newsreader. It might have been
Outlook Express. Sp T-Bird isn't that strange. BITD, being able to
read messages when off-line was handy, especially if one only had '
one phone line, and used dial-up. Not so much once I got a broadband link.

[The Horny Goat]

On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

I've been using (paid) Forte v 8 for 5+ years for both text and
attachments with no problems.

I've no idea why a speaker driver would crash it.

Hopefully I won't have any difficulties when going to my new box
within the next two months (which will almost certainly be Win 11)

[Bice]

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

I've been using (paid) Forte v 8 for 5+ years for both text and
attachments with no problems.
I've no idea why a speaker driver would crash it.
Hopefully I won't have any difficulties when going to my new box
within the next two months (which will almost certainly be Win 11)

I never did figure out how to get Free Agent running again (and I
still have no idea why a bluetooth driver would kill it), but it was
ancient software so it was probably just a matter of time before it
stopped working.

I did get Agent ver. 8 installed and working. If you're going to
install it on a new computer, I hope you kept your registration key.
The web page where you could purchase a key apparently hasn't worked
in years.

After much searching online, I finally found a usable registration key
near the bottom of this page:

https://www.rocksolidbbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=5261&group=alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent#5261

I'd be more than willing to pay for a registration key if Forte was
still selling them, but they aren't. So "borrowing" someone else's key
is unfortunately the best I'm going to be able to do.

-- Bob

[Bice]

Post by Bice
I did get Agent ver. 8 installed and working.

Or at least I thought I did. After getting everything set up, I
closed Agent and discovered that it had written a TON of logs and data
files to my Windows desktop. Almost filled the entire screen.

My guess was that it didn't have permission to write them to the
Windows "Program Files (x86)" folder which was the default location it
installed to, so I uninstalled it and re-installed it in a new folder
right off the C drive root and set everything up again...and this time
no desktop files. But it looks like it's putting all its files in
Users\AppData, which is where I'd expect them to go, so I'm baffled as
to why it was dumping them all on the desktop last time.

At any rate, I think I finally have it set up and working. That only
took two days. I forgot how much of a pain it is to set up Agent.

-- Bob

[Mike Van Pelt]

Post by Bice Eichler
- runs in Windows
- works with Eternal-September's server
- can handle large unread message counts
- can offload unread messages to a single text file
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a

I do old-school -- trn 4.1. I'm running it right now in
"Windows Subsystem for Linux" in a bash shell on a Windows
machine, so it "runs on Windows" for certain definitions of
the term.

Works with Eternal-September's server, obviously, that's how
I'm posting this.

I've never run into any issue with large message counts.

I'd never tried offloading messages to a single text file,
but I just tried it out. Mark the messages you want to save
to the file, then :w <file name>.

It's a threaded newsreader (though you can turn off the
threading if you want) and it has The Most Powerful
Kill File feature of any Usenet reader in existence.
(If there are any better ones, I've never encountered
them.) It's fast to kill messages by from or subject,
a bit slower to kill by anything in the content of the
message or headers. I've used this on the sci.astro
group to kill any message crossposted to the flat
earth group, and back when miscreants were maliciously
crossposting spam to many groups, I could kill messages
crossposted to three or more groups.

[Mike Van Pelt]

Post by Mike Van Pelt
I do old-school -- trn 4.1.

Oops... trn 4.0 test77. Not 4.1; I don't think that exists
(and likely never will; this is last century's software.)

[Cryptoengineer]

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Bice Eichler
- runs in Windows
- works with Eternal-September's server
- can handle large unread message counts
- can offload unread messages to a single text file
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a

I do old-school -- trn 4.1. I'm running it right now in
"Windows Subsystem for Linux" in a bash shell on a Windows
machine, so it "runs on Windows" for certain definitions of
the term.
Works with Eternal-September's server, obviously, that's how
I'm posting this.
I've never run into any issue with large message counts.
I'd never tried offloading messages to a single text file,
but I just tried it out. Mark the messages you want to save
to the file, then :w <file name>.
It's a threaded newsreader (though you can turn off the
threading if you want) and it has The Most Powerful
Kill File feature of any Usenet reader in existence.
(If there are any better ones, I've never encountered
them.) It's fast to kill messages by from or subject,
a bit slower to kill by anything in the content of the
message or headers. I've used this on the sci.astro
group to kill any message crossposted to the flat
earth group, and back when miscreants were maliciously
crossposting spam to many groups, I could kill messages
crossposted to three or more groups.

Out of curiosity, I build trn from source a few years ago.
Took a little effort but it worked fine.

pt

[Mike Van Pelt]

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Mike Van Pelt
I do old-school -- trn 4.1. I'm running it right now in

(actually 4.0 test77)

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Mike Van Pelt
"Windows Subsystem for Linux" in a bash shell on a Windows
machine, so it "runs on Windows" for certain definitions of
the term.

Out of curiosity, I build trn from source a few years ago.
Took a little effort but it worked fine.

I had issues trying to build it several years ago; it used
an old version of some keyboard handling that I had trouble
finding.

However, now (or, at least, as of some time last year
when I did it) you an just do "sudo apt install trn".

There was a flurry of interest in keeping it going
about that time; someone was working on updates and
keeping it going, but I haven't looked at that in a while.

[Cryptoengineer]

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Mike Van Pelt
I do old-school -- trn 4.1. I'm running it right now in

(actually 4.0 test77)

Post by Cryptoengineer

Post by Mike Van Pelt
"Windows Subsystem for Linux" in a bash shell on a Windows
machine, so it "runs on Windows" for certain definitions of
the term.

Out of curiosity, I build trn from source a few years ago.
Took a little effort but it worked fine.

I had issues trying to build it several years ago; it used
an old version of some keyboard handling that I had trouble
finding.
However, now (or, at least, as of some time last year
when I did it) you an just do "sudo apt install trn".
There was a flurry of interest in keeping it going
about that time; someone was working on updates and
keeping it going, but I haven't looked at that in a while.

I did a source build because I was trying to investigate
how it handled UTF-8 characters. At the time, I demonstrated
that I could post messages using, for example, Tibetan
scripts.

GG had a nasty habit of refactoring 8 bit characters, and
vanilla trn would strip the 8th bit, and not add the correct
headers. This led a lot of mangled posts when people quoted
each other.

pt

[Paul S Person]

On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?

It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.

Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

[The Doctor]

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

MesNews or XanaNews

[Mad Hamish]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

[Paul S Person]

On Wed, 15 Jan 2025 14:14:28 +1100, Mad Hamish

Post by Mad Hamish
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

What I get when I check for updates is:

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

which may mean that something has gone wrong with their server's
connection. If it didn't exist, I would expect a DNS error stating
"server not found" or something similar.

IIRC, the thought is that they are still there; indeed, some
subscribers to their paid premium Usenet service report that monthly
billing has resumed (access to the service never dropped but, of
course, that could be being provided by someone else). And a while
back (maybe a year ago now) the web site actually came up for a day or
two. But it does appear that whoever owns it is not paying a whole lot
of attention to it.

And, as I said, a way to handle the "no key" problem can be found on
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent , at least in some cases. Which
the OP may need in 30 days.

OTOH, unless it is updated, sometime in 2033 its internal clock will
run out and things will look really weird. Think "Y2K" all over again.
So switching now might not be an entirely bad idea.

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

On 15 Jan 2025 at 03:14:28 GMT, "Mad Hamish"

Post by Mad Hamish
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

Very much still live -

https://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

Cheers - Jaimie

[Paul S Person]

On 16 Jan 2025 10:55:17 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
On 15 Jan 2025 at 03:14:28 GMT, "Mad Hamish"

Post by Mad Hamish
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

Very much still live -
https://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

And [https://www.forteinc.com/] redirects to that -- today.

Apparently, the 503 Error is specific to the Periodic Update Check and
the Help menu entry Check for Updates. All the other online links on
the Help menu work.

Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding out what the Update Check
is using as a URL.

[Mad Hamish]

On 16 Jan 2025 10:55:17 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
On 15 Jan 2025 at 03:14:28 GMT, "Mad Hamish"

Post by Mad Hamish
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

Very much still live -
https://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

Huh, that's just come back in the last week or so
(and the buy and upgrade pages aren't available)

and their newsserver is back online

[Paul S Person]

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:41:01 +1100, Mad Hamish

Post by Paul S Person
On 16 Jan 2025 10:55:17 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
On 15 Jan 2025 at 03:14:28 GMT, "Mad Hamish"

Post by Mad Hamish
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent. I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

Very much still live -
https://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

Huh, that's just come back in the last week or so
(and the buy and upgrade pages aren't available)
and their newsserver is back online

Nonetheless, progress appears to be being made.

And the buy and upgrade pages available -- that is, they come up, they
have a title, we do not see a 503 error -- they just don't have
anything but a referral to Support. They are a work in progress.

The three Tech Support links on Agent Newsreader Support, OTOH, /do/
show the forms. Whether anything would happen if they were to be used
is, of course, not known at this point.

[Bice]

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:41:01 +1100, Mad Hamish

Post by Paul S Person
On 16 Jan 2025 10:55:17 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
On 15 Jan 2025 at 03:14:28 GMT, "Mad Hamish"

Post by Mad Hamish
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

Very much still live -
https://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

Huh, that's just come back in the last week or so
(and the buy and upgrade pages aren't available)
and their newsserver is back online

But if you go to the page to order a registration key for Agent:

https://www.forteinc.com/agent/order-form.php

you just get an error message saying "We're sorry, this form is not
currently available."

BTW, many thanks to everyone on this thread who helped me out. I did
eventually get back up and running.

-- Bob

[Paul S Person]

Post by Paul S Person
On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:41:01 +1100, Mad Hamish

Post by Paul S Person
On 16 Jan 2025 10:55:17 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
On 15 Jan 2025 at 03:14:28 GMT, "Mad Hamish"

Post by Mad Hamish
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

Their website has disappeared along with their commercial newsserver
service so it looks like it

Very much still live -
https://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

Huh, that's just come back in the last week or so
(and the buy and upgrade pages aren't available)
and their newsserver is back online

https://www.forteinc.com/agent/order-form.php
you just get an error message saying "We're sorry, this form is not
currently available."
BTW, many thanks to everyone on this thread who helped me out. I did
eventually get back up and running.

Yes, it is clearly a work in progress.

But better a work in progress than nothing at all.

[s|b]

Post by Bice
BTW, many thanks to everyone on this thread who helped me out. I did
eventually get back up and running.

I see you're using Hamster. I tried that once. Respect!

[Bice]

Post by s|b

Post by Bice
BTW, many thanks to everyone on this thread who helped me out. I did
eventually get back up and running.

I see you're using Hamster. I tried that once. Respect!

Yep. FreeAgent didn't have a killfile and it got to the point where I
needed one. I used soemthing else before Hamster, but it stopped
working (I think the shear volume of posts in rec.arts.sf.written at
the time killed it) and someone pointed me at Hamster. Now that I've
got a killfile all set up with Hamster, it seemed easier just to stick
with it.

I didn't realize Hamster added its own Header line. I was wondering
how you knew I was using it.

-- Bob

[s|b]

Post by Bice
Yep. FreeAgent didn't have a killfile and it got to the point where I
needed one. I used soemthing else before Hamster, but it stopped
working (I think the shear volume of posts in rec.arts.sf.written at
the time killed it) and someone pointed me at Hamster. Now that I've
got a killfile all set up with Hamster, it seemed easier just to stick
with it.

I once tried it to use multiple servers at once, but then I figured out
how you can do that (sort of) with 1.93. In 8.00 it's built-in.

Post by Bice
I didn't realize Hamster added its own Header line. I was wondering
how you knew I was using it.

I'm pretty sure you can change those headers in Hamster.

[s|b]

Post by Bice Eichler
If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.

Agent works just fine. I'm using 8.00 on W11. The last version of Free
Agent was 3.3. You can still download it here:
<https://www.forteinc.com/agent/download-all.php>

You will get a 30 days trial and then Agent will revert to Free Agent.

If you want to try and solve your current problem with Agent, then I
suggest you try in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent. There isn't a
problem Ralph Fox can't solve.

As for alternatives: Xnews, 40tude Dialog, MesNews, MicroPlanet Gravity.
These are all dead in the water, but still usable. Steve Gibson tinkered
with Gravity, but I can't seem to find a download.

[Paul S Person]

Post by s|b

Post by Bice Eichler
If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.

Agent works just fine. I'm using 8.00 on W11. The last version of Free
<https://www.forteinc.com/agent/download-all.php>
You will get a 30 days trial and then Agent will revert to Free Agent.
If you want to try and solve your current problem with Agent, then I
suggest you try in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent. There isn't a
problem Ralph Fox can't solve.

Thanks for referring him to that. I've done so twice, to no apparent
effect (unless he's just reading the group and not asking the question
there).

They /solved/ the no-key-for-Agent-8 problem, so he may not need to
ask. And some brave soul has submitted the form to get a replacement
key, although no auto-response resulted.

Actually, what he should want is the Upgrade form ... but that's not
actually available at last report.

Post by s|b
As for alternatives: Xnews, 40tude Dialog, MesNews, MicroPlanet Gravity.
These are all dead in the water, but still usable. Steve Gibson tinkered
with Gravity, but I can't seem to find a download.

[s|b]

Post by Paul S Person
Actually, what he should want is the Upgrade form ... but that's not
actually available at last report.

He doesn't need 8.00. II just posted a test message with 1.93:

| > From: "s|b"
| > Newsgroups: be.test
| > Subject: test - ignore
| > Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2025 18:52:16 +0100
| > Message-ID: <***@mid.individual.net>
| > X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.93/32.576 English (American)

It still works, even on W11.

As for the upgrade form: the website was offline for a long time. It's
up again, but buying 8.00 doesn't seem possible. Some consider Agent to
be abandonware, so I've seen license keys being shared, even in auorfa.

[Paul S Person]

Post by s|b
As for the upgrade form: the website was offline for a long time. It's
up again, but buying 8.00 doesn't seem possible. Some consider Agent to
be abandonware, so I've seen license keys being shared, even in auorfa.

Well, it certainly /looked/ like it for a while.

| Agent 8.0 Order Form
|
| We're sorry, this form is not currently available. Please contact support.

Good point.

But the newly-reworked web site hasn't been up all that long.

And a lot of /other/ forms exist.

Give it time. Agent works, and the newgroup provides good support.

[The Horny Goat]

Post by s|b
Agent works just fine. I'm using 8.00 on W11. The last version of Free
<https://www.forteinc.com/agent/download-all.php>

Agent 8 (which I paid for years ago) is basically abandonware now.

Thank you for confirming that it runs on Win 11 as I will be retiring
this computer soon and expect the new machine will come with Win 11

[Default User]

Post by Bice Eichler
Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has
stopped working on my Windows 10 computer. I installed a bluetooth
driver for some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed
Agent. I tried reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I
could find online (ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.
So I guess I have to find new client software. I've spent most of
this morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't
like any of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the
closest to being acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that
I'd like to have.
- runs in Windows
- works with Eternal-September's server
- can handle large unread message counts
- can offload unread messages to a single text file

I have been using XanaNews for a long time. It is very configurable,
but unfortunately can't answer Q4. I tried using the Combine Messages
and Decode feature, which is meant for binary multi-part files, and did
end up with a text file of the messages, but it wasn't satisfactory.
Header information was lost and it looked like some repeats. Possibly
further experimentation would come up with a better solution


Brian

[Bice]

On Wed, 22 Jan 2025 07:58:09 -0000 (UTC), "Default User"

Post by Bice Eichler
- can offload unread messages to a single text file

I figured out how to do this with XanaNews. You select the messages you
want, then File->Export Selected Articles. The separator is a . on its
own line, which isn't great. Possibly something in setting could change
that.

This is one of the really nice features of Agent. You select the
messages you want to offload, pick File -> Save Messages As, and it
brings up a dialog box that lets you specify the file format, the
message separator, which headers you want to include and the save file
name and directory. It also remembers all those settings so you don't
have to re-enter them every time.

All selected messages with a body go into the output file (any without
bodies are ignored).

-- Bob

[Bice]

On Wed, 22 Jan 2025 07:45:08 -0000 (UTC), "Default User"

Post by Bice Eichler
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use
Agent's Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file
with a separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself
so I could read it on other computers where I don't have access to
USENET (OK, I admit it, I read them at work).

I don't know what your restrictions are at work.

I work for the DoD, so it's very, very restricted. And I should
mention that I only read the offloaded Usenet messages when/if things
are really slow. Some days I don't get around to reading them at all.

It's possible that
some newsreader could be installed standalone on a USB stick configured
so its files are also kept there. The key (no pun) would be if you
could avoid any registry requirements. If so, then you could just carry
it back and forth.

Unfortunately, we're not allowed to plug anything (other than a
government furnished mouse) into the USB slots. We're not even
allowed to charge our personal phones or anything like that via USB.
It's very locked down. I'm actually kind of surprised that I'm able to
get to GMail on my work computer.

-- Bob

[Cryptoengineer]

Post by Bice
On Wed, 22 Jan 2025 07:45:08 -0000 (UTC), "Default User"

Post by Bice Eichler
That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use
Agent's Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file
with a separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself
so I could read it on other computers where I don't have access to
USENET (OK, I admit it, I read them at work).

I don't know what your restrictions are at work.

I work for the DoD, so it's very, very restricted. And I should
mention that I only read the offloaded Usenet messages when/if things
are really slow. Some days I don't get around to reading them at all.

It's possible that
some newsreader could be installed standalone on a USB stick configured
so its files are also kept there. The key (no pun) would be if you
could avoid any registry requirements. If so, then you could just carry
it back and forth.

Unfortunately, we're not allowed to plug anything (other than a
government furnished mouse) into the USB slots. We're not even
allowed to charge our personal phones or anything like that via USB.
It's very locked down. I'm actually kind of surprised that I'm able to
get to GMail on my work computer.

Before I retired, I was at a major defense contractor, and had
similar restrictions - that was the main reason I was a diehard
Google Groups user to the end - not because it was good (it wasn't),
but because it worked through our firewalls.

*Nothing* went into my USB ports except a supplied keyboard and
mouse.

Not proud of this, but I did at one point get a mouse jiggler,
but that was an electro mechanical one that I sat the official
mouse on, and powered by an independent USB charger.

pt

[Jay Morris]

Post by Bice

It's possible that
some newsreader could be installed standalone on a USB stick configured
so its files are also kept there. The key (no pun) would be if you
could avoid any registry requirements. If so, then you could just carry
it back and forth.

Unfortunately, we're not allowed to plug anything (other than a
government furnished mouse) into the USB slots. We're not even
allowed to charge our personal phones or anything like that via USB.
It's very locked down. I'm actually kind of surprised that I'm able to
get to GMail on my work computer.

And it not just a policy thing. There's monitoring software at network
operations that detects an unregistered USB device[1], locks out the
computer, and alerts network ops. Then your supervisor gets an email and
you end up taking a 1-2 hour cyber security class that would get any
Spectre agent talking.

At least this was the process when I retired from Air Force civil
service in 2016.

[1]And the USB device is registered per computer.

[Cryptoengineer]

Post by Jay Morris

Post by Bice

It's possible that
some newsreader could be installed standalone on a USB stick configured
so its files are also kept there. The key (no pun) would be if you
could avoid any registry requirements. If so, then you could just carry
it back and forth.

Unfortunately, we're not allowed to plug anything (other than a
government furnished mouse) into the USB slots.  We're not even
allowed to charge our personal phones or anything like that via USB.
It's very locked down. I'm actually kind of surprised that I'm able to
get to GMail on my work computer.

And it not just a policy thing. There's monitoring software at network
operations that detects an unregistered USB device[1], locks out the
computer, and alerts network ops. Then your supervisor gets an email and
you end up taking a 1-2 hour cyber security class that would get any
Spectre agent talking.
At least this was the process when I retired from Air Force civil
service in 2016.
[1]And the USB device is registered per computer.

Once, I found apparently new, blister packed
USB sticks left in my cubicle. I assumed this was an attempt
to see if I'd be dumb enough to plug them in.

While I *could* plug in a USB stick, if it was not
already registered, it would be automatically formatted, and an
encrypted storage area created, with a centrally managed key. Thus,
I could store stuff, and even take it to another corporate computer,
but could not read it on a non-company computer.

pt